One&Only Mandarina

I’ve never written a review for any of our prior vacations; however, One & Only Mandarina has set itself apart. First and foremost, our host, Alfredo, made our vacation incredible. We went for our babymoon, and he was always one step ahead of our needs and constantly surprising us with the most thoughtful gestures (pregnancy pillow, special treats for mama-to-be’s cravings, and baby gifts for the baby on her way… just to name a few). The resort was gorgeous, albeit expansive (requiring golf cart rides everywhere on the property). The treehouse was spacious and beautiful. The views were gorgeous. The meals at the restaurants were delicious. Everything was perfect!

The most amazing trip! We will remember it forever. Perfect for couples who love wildlife and being in nature. You can bird-watch from your villa! Extremely luxurious and excellent food at all the restaurants. Friendly and accommodating staff. Worth every penny and then some. Ask about visiting the butterfly sanctuary!

This was our first experience at an O&O and it was spectacular!! The location is very unique how they built the resort into the jungle and everything felt very private. We were a group of 6 friends and shared a 2 bedroom Ocean View Villa Banderas, which was more than enough space for everyone!! The villa had two large bedrooms, a full size living and dining room, 3 full bathrooms and our own private plunge pool. Breakfast was wonderful at Alma everyday, and you had the option of buffet items and ordering from the menu. Dinner at Allora was amazing on a deck right on the beach. We had the place literally to ourselves with a full staff taking care of us. Lunch at the Jetty was also delicious and the views from all the pools/restaurants is outstanding. Carao was a little disappointing as the service was slow and not up to par with how we were treated at every other location. The food also missed the mark here which was unfortunate, it was expensive and just not the flavors/quality we were expecting from the "best" restaurant on the property. What really made our trip special and set this resort over the top was the service and attention we received from our butler Tomas. He was always available to help with anything that we needed and made our stay so memorable. We have already booked a return trip for next year and will absolutely request to have Tomas take care of us!

The rooms with stunning views, the incredibly kind and accommodating staff, the food, pool snd beach club services - this resort has it all for couples looking for a gorgeous, relaxed holiday in the sun! It is our second time. First in a Premier Panoramic Cliff Villa snd this time on the other side of the property in a stunning Premier Panoramic Ocean Treehouse. We will definitely return again!

This fantastic property is very expensive, but it has stunning villsa, excellent service, fantastic restaurants, a beautiful setting, and incredibly nice and accommodating staff. The gym and yoga classes are first-class. All movement around the resort pretty much requires that you call for golf cart transportation. Once you become comfortable with the routine, it works well. A truly beautiful property.

Service! Setting! Wow The setting is just spectacular but more than that is the authentic and warm service. Everyone is just there to please—from Ivan at the ocean to Fernando at breakfast — warm and wonderful service. The spa is spectacular with amazing massage and mud bath. The food and drinks are top notch too.

My partner and I spent three nights in the Ocean Treehouse room at Mandarina. Overall, we had a lovely stay. The property, setting, grounds and room are all incredible. The food was varied and delicious, and the amenities (and in particular, the spa) were great. This property had some issues to work through, but it could definitely be a 5/5. The good: -The room was perfect. Perched in the cliff overlooking the coastline, every detail was great. We loved spending time in it, especially the balcony and hot pool -We loved all the restaurants and each was different and delicious. In particular, lunch at Jetty Beach was a highlight along with Alma & Carou for dinner -The grounds, set in a lush jungle on the cliff, were very well maintained and the setting was incredible -The beach club, Canalan, was very special and highly recommend checking it out. It’s set on a remote beach with great Italian food, a pool right on the sand, and good service -They did a great job on the spa and we loved our massages The bad: -The golf cart (buggy) system is by far the worst part of the hotel. We came on a holiday weekend, in which the hotel was at full occupancy, and we had to wait an average of 30-40 min the first two days. This only changed after we complained to management -The two pools have nowhere near enough chairs for the 100 rooms. We couldn’t even go to the pool the first two days due to capacity issues -They don’t have enough tables at the two breakfast options and we had to wait 20-30 min the first two morning before we could get a table Overall, it was a great property but I wouldn’t recommend visiting on a holiday week/weekend or at peak times like Chris**as.

I was in O&O last weekend with my husband celebrating our anniversary. The place is truly gorgeous but our experience was soured by a number of occurrences that you just don’t expect happening in a place where the going rate is over $2,000usd per night. 1. Flawed payment system and abusive exchange rate - I booked this hotel early January and received a link for 2-day deposit upfront payment. We tried several cards but hotel payment system didn’t work as we kept getting “try again later” messages. We called reservations and they first told us it was our card, we called our bank and the card worked just fine. Then they sent us details to make a bank transfer. The hotel quotes in US dollars but conveniently their system couldn’t process dollar payments and we were forced to pay in pesos at an exchange rate of 1 peso higher than the official rate, an extra way for the hotel to do skimming of approx. 6% on exchange rate. For a Mexican citizen it’s quite offensive and foreigners will see higher amounts on their credit cards because of this double conversion. 2. Lack of communication post reservations and poor attention from guest experience. Once we sent the payment confirmation to the hotel Reservations we were told that we would get confirmation when the accounting depar**ent receives the payment. We never did. In two days I sent an email inquiring on airport transportation options. Next day I got a reply referring me to @Luis Daniel Serna De Luna from “guest experience” who was supposed to be in touch and address all our needs within 24-48 hours due to “high volume of emails”. One week later we received no word from Luis Serna so I had to send another email inquiring on the status of our reservations and transfer information. I got a reply 3 days later saying that all agents are attending January requests first and once they are done they will commence with February (like if it was a crappy limited service hotel) and again they referred me to Luis Serna who never actually answered the chain of emails. 10 days before our trip I decided to call the hotel directly as email communication seemed pointless. I spent 20 minutes with a lady from “guest experience” inquiring about hotel transfer options and making dinner reservations for our trip. She told me she will send me confirmations by email. One week has passed and no confirmations was received. I had to call again and this time I got the “famous” Luis Serna on the phone who notified me that he didn’t see any dinner reservations in the system. At this point I got furious as this is not something you expect from a hotel that charges $2,000+ a night. 3. Carao restaurant overrated and forgot our special occasion - on the day of our anniversary we had a reservation in Carao restaurant of the famous Enrique Olivera, chef of Pujol in Mexico City. It seems that the staff was not aware of our anniversary as we got seated at a table facing each other instead of next to each other and next to a table w

Exceptional property with excellent service. The beauty of the hotel is unparalleled to anything in North America given that natural habitat it’s located in. Our host Jorge and Javier took excellent care of us. Unforgettable 2 dishes- the sea urchin risotto with abalone at the pop up Singapore restaurant and the simple but divine spaghetti pomodoro with charred shrimp at the Italian restaurant should be a must. These two dishes really speaks to your soul if you are a food lover. The vegetable from their garden pizza is also well done. The quality of this pizza and pasta is world class. The spa is top notch. Will be back.